I picked up the modified ogre club and popped it into my inventory so that I could read its description. I was elated as it was everything I wanted and more.

Ogre Club with Sleepytime Sleeve (Ultra-Rare)

This club looks like a standard-issue ogre club. What sets it apart is the fact that it was made from the fallen branch of a magic-imbued tree.

Doubles the Brawn attribute when wielded by a magic user. 1 MP per minute is consumed.

Destroys magical defenses on impact. 10 MP when triggered.

Sleepytime Sleeve modification adds the following effects:

The sleeve on this weapon prevents death even from full power blows. The magic is in effect until after the enemy ceases forward momentum. Enemy at rest falls into a deep slumber with normal healing and recovery properties during sleep.

10 MP used for each magical sleep blow.

I could summon the weapon and Sleeve separately or together from my dimensional space. I could even summon the sleeve mid-swing after a few practice runs.

"Wow, Lulu. You did an amazing job!" I said as I hugged the woman. She gave me a pat on my back to signal the end of hugging time had come and told me not to worry about it.

"Time to save Bettyford," I said with a huge smile on my face. I couldn't help but smile as I thought about all of the murders I would avoid.

I headed out of the shack and left Jen with Lulu to catch up. Lulu didn't want payment but I left her a magical mattress and I thought that was a pretty good, and somewhat ironic, gift to thank her.

I stepped into town and decided to start by heading straight to the town hall building where the fake mayor was staying. What was his name again? Clam? Cloon? Clive? It was something like that but I couldn't quite remember. I wasn't too worried about it since I didn't expect him to stay long after I started swinging. As soon as he figured out that I had killed the dragon last time he flew out of town faster than a toupee in a tornado.

I didn't see any of the goons as I walked up to the front door of the large building. As I went to open the door, a voice shouted out from behind me.

"Hey, buddy, what are you doing?" The man had to be at least twenty to thirty feet behind me and from the voice, he was running over. I kept my back to him as he approached. "I'm talking to you. You aren't allowed to go in there."

As soon as he was in range, and when I was sure it was one of the goons, I put my newly formed plan into action.

"Sleep tight Larry," I said as I swung around with the modified ogre club in hand.

He didn't have time to dodge the blow and it caught him square in the chest. He flew backward and landed with a thud on the hard-packed dirt and gravel ground that made up the town's roads and pathways. He had flown almost to the other side of the town's square.

"There is no way that didn't kill him," I said to myself as I stared in awe at the distance the man had soared majestically before landing not-so-majestically.

I ran over to check for signs of life and sure enough as I approached I heard snoring coming from his crumpled body. It didn't seem like it was a comfy position to sleep in, but the magic did exactly what it said it would do. He was in a deep sleep, but would definitely feel some pain when he woke.

"What are you doing over there?" Yelled another familiar voice from back toward the town hall building.

"Jerry!" I had to stop myself from running over to hug him. I didn't mean to kill him either after all and unmurdering someone is an indescribably good feeling.

"My name is Jerrald and how did you know my name anyway?" He asked. Right after the words left his mouth he saw the body behind me. He ran up to the door of the town hall building and shouted something inside.

I called over to him that Larry was just sleeping and would be okay, but it didn't seem to matter. Gary stepped out of the building and the pair of them started speed walking over to me aggressively.

"Whoa guys, take it easy or I'll have to give you a dirt nap, but not the dead kind of dirt nap. Really it is just a regular nap, but it will most likely be in the dirt." I pulled out my new favorite weapon and the men paused. They didn't stop out of fear. It was more out of confusion at the spectacle of a weapon I was weirdly threatening them with.

"You are going to take a dirt nap, but we do mean the killing kind," said Gary.

"I don't remember you being this mean Gary. You should find nicer friends Jerry," I said with a tinge of sass. They came at me and I timed my strikes to hit the first as soon as they were in range. I struck Gary and used the momentum of the blow to set up a second strike at Jerry. They were unable to stop the hits or didn't think the mattress bat was a real threat.

Jerry and Gary went flying in opposite directions and hit the ground one after the other. I had snoring in stereo and thought that these guys might need a breathe-right strip or something. It was like as if they were trying to outdo each other in both volume and variety of odd noises emanating from them.

A small man opened the front door of that large building and yelled at me.

"Shut up. I'm trying to sleep." It was the wannabe mayor.

"That's funny. So are they," I said as I gestured over to the sleeping thugs.

He didn't seem to be amused. "Bear! Get out here now!" He was screaming like a toddler that wasn't getting what he wanted at this point.

"Give it up, Clive!" I took a guess at the name I only half-remembered. "It's over. Let someone take control of the town that actually cares about others."

"It's Klive you ignoramus." He crossed his arms which didn't help his tantrum seem less childish.

Barry stepped out of the building and walked to stand beside his boss.

"Kill him, Bear." Klive smiled as he gave the order.

"Barry, I'm your friend and you can trust me. Your mother's name is Martha, your favorite color is blue, and you have a birthmark on your thigh," I said telling him all the things that he had told me before he killed me. I hoped that it would work as the giant of a man walked over.

He came and stood right in front of my face. His expression changed from angry thug mode to soft Barry mode. "How did you know that stuff? I've never told anyone that information."

"It is hard to explain, Barry. You have to trust me for now. I will tell you that we are friends, you gave me that information of your own free will, and you don't like working for people that don't actually care about you as a person," I said as genuine as possible under the weird circumstances. I could've sworn that a tear almost came to his eye and he turned to stand by my side.

"I'm on his side now," Barry said as he clapped me on the back.

"Bear! Do your job!" Kline was jumping and pounding down his feet at this point having lost any advantage and any control he thought he had over the situation.

"The name is Barry and I stand with," he paused remembering that he didn't know my name yet. I whispered it to him. "I stand with Theodore."

Having realized that he had absolutely no aces up his sleeve he ran. I was once again amazed at how fast those tiny legs could move.

"Thanks for trusting me, Barry," I said looking over at him. "I'll try to explain the best I can."

I spent the next ten minutes or so attempting to explain as we walked over to get Jen. I think he understood enough of it and who would make something like that up anyway. We got back to Jen and I explained my new old friend to her.

Next, I need to repeat the part where I gave Smith Black the special ring, the ores and ingots, and all the dwarven stuff I had collected for him to make all the special gear for Jen and Barry. It all followed about the same course except for I was a bit more skilled in crafting and had some experience with assisting Smith so everything went a little easier this time around.

When it came time to head out of Bettyford I decided to ask for a small favor.

I asked them if we could circle back to take out the band of red-orange goblin things that kidnapped Jen and Qwen the first time through and then go up to the lizard-folk before heading over to Wolfhill. I was close enough to level fourteen that I figured I'd hit it before we got to the big city and had to face Edrus and his cronies again.

The first group was so much easier this time around since I knew what to expect and knew exactly what I was facing. The shaman didn't drop a legendary item this time. The loot consisted of some of the common magic scrolls that I had already gotten thus far, a few health potions, almost all of their weapons and armor, and the prize that replaced the legendary staff that I refused to use. I found another spellbook. It had a different rune on the cover and it was one that I didn't recognize.

I knew that reading its description would be pointless before I learned it so I just opened the book to start the learning process. After a few seconds, I knew a new spell. I read its description and was happy with its utility.

Spell of Adhesion

Caster creates an adhesive surface. Area-based on MP used during casting. Caster can choose what doesn't stick to the surface. Adhesion wears off after ten minutes. The strength of the adhesive is based on the caster's level.

I wanted to try it out as soon as I could. I went up to a tall tree and cast the spell on the bark at about eye level. My plan was to use the skill to climb up the tree like a man spider. What actually happened was I stuck my hand firmly into the adhesive surface and had to wait ten minutes for it to wear off to get my hand back. It was a strong adhesive and I didn't want to rip the skin off of my hand. I quickly learned that I had to decide what wouldn't stick to the adhesive when I first cast the spell.

I tried casting the spell again on the tree but this time thought about myself not sticking to the surface. I placed my hand on the sticky substance and I was able to pull it away as if it wasn't there at all. We started walking away toward the next fight with the lizardfolk and heard angry squeaking behind us. Pips' front paw was firmly stuck on that same tree. We had to wait another ten minutes but at least I had learned to always include my party in the non-stick category.

The lizard fight also went better than the first time around and at the end of it, I got the notice that I was hoping for.

Level up. You are now level 14.

New Special Ability unlocked!

I quickly found the new special ability to read its description.

Pyrokinesis

Allows you to control fire. An inferno can be extinguished but not created without an existing flame. Can use MP as fuel if other substances aren't available.

I brought out my torch and activated it to create the flame. Then, with a thought, I made the flame swirl around us and return back to the torch. It was amazing and incredibly intuitive.

"That was crazy," Jen said as I realized that they had no idea I had just gotten that capability.

I smacked my palm to my forehead. Why hadn't I unlocked the Fireball spell yet? I had to have enough scrolls to unlock it at this point. The Pyrokinesis special ability was enough of a push for me to unlock the spell. Maybe it was my unwillingness to burn someone alive or maybe I was just a little scared of starting a forest fire, but with my immunity to fire from the dragon's ring and this new ability I was less worried about things getting out of control.

I shot the Fireball scrolls into a nearby boulder until the spell officially unlocked. Now I had more to work with as an Arrowmancer and I was feeling pretty good about myself. I really needed to try out some spell combinations and see what my class could really do. I should probably make training up my bow skills more of a priority as well.

We continued on toward Wolfhill and I tried to prepare them as much as possible for the rescue operation. I had a fairly good plan going but putting our heads together might give me more options. We fought the relatively easy fights the same as the first run through and came to the edge of the trees where we could see Wolfhill in the distance.

"The most important part of the plan is coming up with a cool operation name and all I have in 'Operation: Rats 2.0' which is terrible," I said trying to think up a good name. For the first time in my afterlife, I couldn't think of a good name for one of my schemes.

Jen and Barry didn't put forward any names which I thought was a bit rude.

"You don't really need a name for the plan. You just need to succeed at saving Jen's parents," Mae said unimpressed at my continued mumbling of possible names.

"Operation: Aw Rats," said Barry checking to see what my facial response would be upon hearing his idea.

"I love it," I said with a smile. I'd never seen Barry so proud of himself. We continued walking toward the big city and Barry had his head held high.